Was it an act of mercy when Richard DeLucia shot and killed his wife, Ann, in her room at the Westchester Medical Center before turning the gun on himself?

The term “mercy killing” is well defined. There are several criteria that have to be met, as set by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, for murder to be considered mercy.

“The definition of mercy killing, according to the CDC, requires that the person is in a terminal and helpless condition," and that he or she asked to be killed, said Sonia Salari, associate professor in the department of family and consumer studies at the University of Utah.

“You've got to be kind of careful what you call a mercy killing, that's all,” she said.

In the DeLucias' case, her medical condition is not yet known. He had recently undergone open-heart surgery; she had suffered a series of strokes, but whether she was terminally ill is not public information.

Nor is it known if she consented when when her husband shot her Wednesday with a .38-caliber revolver.

The CDC’s specific definition requires documentation, and only a note from Richard DeLucia has been found.

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Police at Westchester Medical Center after a report of shots fired in the hospital in Valhalla on Wednesday.(Photo11: Tania Savayan/The Journal News)

Police said the note talks about Ann DeLucia’s deteriorated physical condition and Richard’s sadness because of it. But if she did consent to the shooting, either orally or in writing, it is not yet publicly known.

Richard DeLucia’s state of mind does fit a pattern for murder-suicide Salari and her colleagues have identified in their research.

She and her team examined 730 murder-suicide events with about 1,500 deaths, and found distinct trends based on age.

“You try to look at the motive,” she said. “For young adults, age 18-44, the primary motivation appeared to be homicide. Then they 'suicided' to get out of having to go to prison.”

Suicide was the motive among older adults, more often than not.

“Something like 63 percent of them had a situation where they were primarily suicidal and then they decided to take out other people, their spouse usually,” Salari said.

The home of Richard and Ann DeLucia in Jefferson Valley. Richard DeLucia, 71, was distraught over the medical issues burdening his 70-year-old wife so he shot her and then himself in a murder-suicide at Westchester Medical Center. Tania Savayan/The Journal News

Jefferson Village neighbor Fred Holm had fond memories of Richard and Ann DeLucia. Richard DeLucia, 71, was distraught over the medical issues burdening his 70-year-old wife so he shot her and then himself in a murder-suicide at Westchester Medical Center. Tania Savayan/The Journal News

Richard DeLucia’s suicide was successful, but when the husband commits the murder but is unable or unwilling to kill himself, the “mercy killing” argument can have an effect on the legal disposition.

After Pearl River’s Walter Papeman killed his ailing wife in 1999, he was sentenced to a year in prison.

“You were not justified in taking your wife's life,” the judge in the case said. “But I would not condemn you for that, either.”

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Richard Savage in 1996.(Photo11: File photo/The Journal News)

Richard Savage of Valley Cottage shot his wheelchair-bound wife in the back in 1995. A plea agreement knocked his sentence down to 14 days in jail, plus 28 days time served.

Salari said she does empathize with men put in the difficult position of caring for sick and even terminally ill spouses, but murder under those conditions is still domestic violence, even if accompanied by a suicide.

"You can't shoot them, bludgeon them and then kill yourself without it being domestic violence," she said. "This is a form of control. It is a form of domestic violence and maybe we need to give more support to men who are in a position of having to care-give their wives.”